by Leann Zotis

Created on: July 04, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2009

Members of the whales family are some of the largest and mightiest creature in nature, with the blue whale being the largest animal to currently inhabit the earth. They have few predators in nature other than humans and an occasional, predatory sea creature that may choose to prey on older, weaker members of the whale population. They do, however, consistently have to contend with a variety of whale parasites. Many of these parasites are simply annoying. Others can prove deadly.

The most common whale parasite found throughout every species of whale is known as the whale louse. Each species of whale has a specific species of whale louse that seems to be unique to the whale to which it attaches itself. Some whale lice are even gender specific, choosing to live on the skin or either the male or the female whale.

Whale lice remain attached to the host whale throughout their entire existence. They move from mother whale to calf or between other whales in close proximity to each other and continue their parasitic existence of scavenging organisms from the whale's skin. Often, their feeding frenzy results in eating the skin from the whale itself.

Whale lice prefer living in areas of the whale's body that are protected from ocean currents, such as natural body openings, open wounds or in ventral pleats. Slower swimming whales, such as the baleen whales, may be home to as many as 100,000 whale lice. Members of some of the speedier whale species are likely to host far fewer lice.

Although whale lice are universally common among the whale population, they are by no means the only parasite the whale may have to contend with. Barnacles, an anthropod related to crabs and lobsters, can attach themselves to the whale, usually in the region of the head, and grow to the size of a closed fist. They may maintain this free ride on their host for months or years at a time.

Whales may also fall victim to tapeworms. Tapeworms in whales may exist as relatively small parasites or, according to many research studies on whales, can grow in excess of 100 feet in length and be very detrimental to the overall health of its host.

While many parasites that plague whales are more annoying than hazardous, some parasites, such as tapeworms, can prove fatal. Another potentially lethal parasite that a whale may encounter in its life is the lungworm. This parasitic worm can infest the lungs or air ways of the whale, leading to life threatening consequences. A similar threat comes from the sinus fluke, a leech-like creature that may find its way into the sinus airways or even manage to burrow into the whale's brain.

While the whale is quite a formidable creature in its natural environment, it can be susceptible to the very threatening presence of some rather small, seemingly inconsequential, parasites.

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